Demo over woman bashing

Ruth Butaumocho Gender Editor

Scores of women yesterday demonstrated against Budiriro shebeen owner Kumbirai Musariri for brutally assaulting a Glen View vendor Robinah Mukumbire over a $6 debt.The concerned citizens who organised themselves in an ad hoc manner thronged Musariri’s Budiriro house, and camped there for nearly an hour, demanding to see him.

They later dispersed after being told that he was not home.

Some of the women who took part in the demonstration called on the judiciary to revisit the sentence, arguing that it was too lenient considering that Robinah sustained serious injuries following the assault.

Musariri was fined $50 or 10 days in jail if he fails to pay the fine on/or before October 28.

Magistrate Gladys Moyo also slapped Musariri with a wholly suspended two-month jail term for five years on condition that he does not commit a similar offence.

In passing the sentence, magistrate Moyo took into account that Musariri was a first offender who did not waste the court’s time by pleading guilty to the offence before being fined $50.

However legal experts and activists have since described the fine as a “mockery” to gender justice.

Gender activist Tendai Wenyika who was among the demonstrators against Musariri said the fine was too little considering the brutal manner in which the perpetrator assaulted Robinah.

“We are actually calling on the judiciary to call for a retrial. Such a fine does not correspond with the brutality that Musariri subjected Robinah to.

“If anything, such judgments put women at the mercy of men, when the law should be safeguarding their welfare and safety.

Wenyika added that there was need for the courts to protect women from all forms of violation, following an increase in abuse cases in Zimbabwe in the last few years.

“What happened to Robinah is not an isolated case, but is a clear indication of what women are going through in different spaces and, we cannot turn a blind eye to such abuses,” she said.

The video of Musariri attacking Robinah went viral on social media last week resulting in his arrest and subsequent trial.